I got this idea of writing your past year's highlights in retrospect from another blog. I thought it's a brilliant idea - you could quickly review what you did, what you discovered, what you learned, what happened and what new things you did for the year. Plus, when you start having memory lapses, it's going to be a great cheat sheet. Haha...
So here's my 2015 in retrospect -
The most important highlight of my year was seeing Pope Francis when he visited Manila in January. We were able to catch his motorcade in P. Burgos and though it lasted just a few seconds, I was overwhelmed. This is a screenshot from a video I took. :)
Some new things I did this year:
- I got more active in the stock market. :)
- I was able to finally develop an exercise habit. What worked for me? I followed an advice to have an identity-based goal e.g. I'm the type of person who doesn't miss a workout instead of a performance-based goal e.g. I want to be healthy or lose xx pounds. In the early weeks, there were days when I felt sluggish to exercise but then, I reminded myself that I'm the type of person who doesn't miss a workout so I didn't miss a workout until it became a habit. :)
- I tried teaching. It was a full day workshop, once per quarter, but it was for 7 hours per session! What I realized? It takes weeks to develop and design a module, and it's hard to talk and stand for a prolonged period. If ever I consider teaching again, I think I could only do 2 hours max per session. Haha... But it was really fulfilling especially when you see participants, who had zero knowledge about the topic at the start of the session, be able to compute and analyze metrics at the end of the day. :)
- I got into plants. I look forward to checking on them in the morning. It particularly amazes me to see a tiny sprout grow bigger each day. As a bonus, having plants at home has health benefits too. :)
- I started cooking more often and I actually love to eat what I cook! Love your own. Harhar....
Just a quick background on my cooking (in)abilities - though I've taken up cooking lessons in the past, I'm not a talented cook. What frustrates me is everytime I follow a recipe, the outcome doesn't look as nice as the photo in the recipe book! Haha...
So what suddenly got me into cooking last year? One day, a colleague brought Adobong Atay (chicken liver marinated in soy sauce) and I loved it. I asked her how it was cooked and I tried cooking it. My Adobong Atay was yummy (at least for me! Haha...).
Since then, I've tried to cook whatever I feel like eating as long as the recipe is 6 ingredients or less. Haha... And I don't follow recipe books anymore but concoct my own - just a like a chef! Harhar...
- Musicals and shows I watched in 2015 - Beauty and the Beast in January, Defending the Caveman in February, Lion King (in Melbourne) in March, Idina Menzel's concert in June, Singin' in the Rain in September, No Filter 2.0 in October and Cookin' Nanta in November.
- My travels in 2015 -
- Melbourne with a friend in March (but it was more of a business trip since we wanted to check out a trade fair)
- Seoul with my cousins in April
- Cebu and Bohol with my mom in May
- Bali with high school friends in June
- Taipei with a college friend in November (originally booked in August but it coincided on the days Typhoon Soudelor was heading toTaipei so we just decided to move our trip to November.)
- Batanes with a college friend in December
- Number of books I read - 18! My top favorite reads among the 18 are (in random order) - Empty Mansions, Elon Musk, The Hard Thing about Hard Things, Growth Hacker Marketing and Mindset.
Btw, my Kindle 2nd gen finally conked out in 2015 so I finally got a Kindle Paperwhite. Thank you old Kindle for the last 5 years. :)
- Movies I watched on the big screen which I really enjoyed and/or learned life lessons from: The Intern, The Martian and The Force Awakens (which reminds me I've yet to write my Star Wars cheat sheet before I forget all details of the movie marathon I did. Haha....)
I think that's about it for my 2015 highlights. :)
After doing this retrospect, I realized that this is a good exercise. Why? Because every end of the year, we usually rant that a year has passed by so quickly! But when you start looking back, you begin to realize that you did have some activities (now whether you consider them productive or meaningful is another thing! Haha...). But for me, that's really up to you - your own rules ... your own definition of enjoyment .... your own criteria of what's worth your time with the 365 days we've been given. :)
